Thursday, 26 April 2007

IBM, SAP Expand Partnership to Reach Midsize Companies in Asia-Pacific

SAP AG and IBM have revealed the expansion of their partnership to serve midsize companies in a total of 12 countries through reseller agreements for SAP All-in-One solutions, building on last year's announcement in the United States...

SAP AG and IBM have revealed the expansion of their partnership to serve midsize companies in a total of 12 countries through reseller agreements for SAP All-in-One solutions, building on last year's announcement in the United States.

Under these agreements, IBM and SAP are also teaming up with local technology companies in Europe and Asia-Pacific to capture a larger piece of the rapidly growing market opportunity in serving midsize companies. According to Gartner, there are 80 million small and midsize businesses worldwide spending an estimated USD 450 billion this year. (Midsize Enterprise Summit, 2006, 'Trends and Strategies in the SMB Market', Joslyn Faust). SAP and the local IBM Business Partners will focus on capturing this opportunity by bringing innovative packaged solutions to numerous industries including wholesale distribution, life sciences, retail, industrial machinery, and construction and engineering. These comprehensive, end-to-end solutions include IBM hardware, software and services, and address customers' specific business problems with micro vertical industry-specific functionality and best practices.

"This partnership allows us to combine IBM and SAP's industry expertise with our sales teams and business partners' ability to serve their local customers, with an enhanced portfolio of world-class business applications built on reliable infrastructures," said Steve Solazzo, general manager, global mid-market business, IBM. "We'll accomplish this by implementing these solutions along with an expanded network of highly qualified IBM Business Partners who have strong local presence and long-term client relationships."